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U.S. SHOOTER EMMONS IS GOOD TO LAST SHOT, AND THAT’S GOOD ENOUGH FOR BRONZE MEDAL

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Matt Emmons of the U.S. had a poor final shot in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions, but he avoided disaster for the third straight Olympics and picked up a bronze medal in the event. MARWAN NAAMANI • GettyImages

Matt Emmons of the U.S. had a poor final shot in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions, but he avoided disaster for the third straight Olympics and picked up a bronze medal in the event. MARWAN NAAMANI • GettyImages

LONDON 
Matt Emmons’ final shot of the Olympic 50-meter three-position rifle competition was terrible. Again.

Only this time, he was thrilled.

After seeing gold medals — or any medal, for that matter — slip away with last-bullet debacles in Athens and Beijing, Emmons finally made his way to the Olympic medal stand in the three-position event Monday.

A score of 7.6 on his final shot might be dreadful for someone at the elite level, but good enough for Emmons to win bronze at the Royal Artillery Barracks, the fourth and final medal for USA Shooting at the London Games.

“Today was one of the hardest matches I’ve ever shot,” he said. “I had basically the weight of millions of people on my back, riding on today’s match, expecting — well, not expecting me to win, but hoping I would win. And also riding on that last shot, because I can’t run away from it. That’s just what everyone talks about.”

Emmons won a 50-meter prone rifle gold at Athens and silver in the event at Beijing, but he is best-known for his Olympic three-position misfortunes.

He was the leader with one shot left in three-position at Athens in 2004, then somehow managed to shoot at the wrong target. The zero score knocked him entirely out of the medal standings. A Czech shooter named Katy Kurkova shared a beer with the American that sad night, then happily married him three years later.

In Beijing, Emmons again led with one shot left. That time, the gun went off before he was aligned with the target. Gold gone, again. Medal gone, again.

So on Monday, Emmons paid no attention to the standings. He knew Italy’s Niccolo Campriani had a huge lead for gold — Campriani won easily — and that the race for silver and bronze was close. And the nerves darn near consumed him.

“My knees were shaking before I picked that gun up,” Emmons said. “I basically just tightened up my muscles as hard as I could and just relaxed them right before I picked the gun up to try to get that stuff out of my muscles and get to relax.”

His final shot wasn’t good. But it was good enough for third, 1.2 points behind South Korea’s Kim Jong-hyun and 0.3 points ahead of the fourth-place finisher, Cyril Graff of France.

Cycling

Jason Kenny won the sprint for Britain’s fifth gold medal out of a possible seven in track cycling. Kenny earned his first win against three-time world champion Gregory Bauge of France. The 24-year-old from Bolton, outside Manchester, made good on the British team’s decision to enter him in the event instead of defending champion Chris Hoy. Shane Perkins of Australia claimed the bronze medal.